Development of Online LGBT Gaming Community (2014)

Undergraduate: Aislinn Klos

Faculty Advisor: Tyler Curtain
Department: History

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This research investigated the development and growth of online gaymer communities by analyzing archived posts on gayming sites, UseNet, and through interviews with gaymers. Groups of gaymers began to form online in the 1990s but did not coalesce into major sites until the 2000s. In addition to a desire to network and play with like-minded individuals, gaymer communities formed to resist rampant homophobia and sexism in mainstream gaming communities. In addition to the homophobia of gamers, anti-harassment policies of game companies, which often either failed to prevent harassment or denied gaymer¿s the ability to express their LGBT identity, shaped gaymer¿s decisions to identify as LGBT in their game environments and profiles. As gaymer¿s visibility increased, representations of LGBT characters and themes in both major video game titles and independent titles increased as well. By 2013, the gayming community had grown large enough to support multiple major communities, to fracture and have a cross-community dispute over the trademark on the term ¿gaymer,¿ and to hold a major convention, GaymerX. There are also now out gay pro-gamers in e-sports, which is recognized by the United States government as a professional sport. Overall, in the past decade, the gaymer community has grown rapidly and its increase of visibility has shaped the policies of game companies and their products, which, in turn, have shaped the gayming community.